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Stephan returning to the home team's goal

The away team's experts are not too pleased by their defense, and will probably focus on that segment more in the remainder of the season, as they are aware that it is above all good defense that wins titles

The Geneva team came home empty handed from the local derby in Lausanne. As expected, we saw a tough and cautious game dominated by defense. Although Almond brought them the lead, they could not hold out to the end. Coach McSorely was not happy, but there were objective reasons justifying the loss, as a few important players are missing.

The absences should to a large extent be a thing of the past from now on. The reason is that goalkeeper Stephan is coming back after a three game suspension, as well as forward Hollenstein, who was away for six games. The appearance of Picard is still in question:

-I lost five kilos over the last few days due to food poisoning. I'm more or less OK now, but I feel my legs are a bit weaker. It will take me a while to recover my energy.

As the opponents coming to visit them are the defending champions, it is to be expected they will try to prepare Picard for the match the best they can. The middle part of the ranking ladder is rather crowded, and every point might be important in the end.

Bern were defeated by Friboueg in the last round, but they were not overly negative about it. The comments targeted their somewhat weaker defense...

-I'd split the season so far into two parts. We won five points in the first five rounds, and that was not good. We did better in the next five rounds, and my only major objection is that we conceded a lot of goals. We have (perhaps) the best defense in the league, and should do better on that- commented Leuenberger, their sports director.

The absences situation should not differ much from the last few matches, meaning coach Tormanen should not have too much trouble putting together a roster.

Servette are a defensive team by default. Their star player Stephan is returning to the goal today, and they expect him to further strengthen their defensive block. The away team (occasionally) had some problems with their defense, so this week sports director Leuenberger gave coach Tormanen the priority task of improving the team's defensive performance. Having in mind that Servette don't have much of an offense, I believe Bern can already achieve their defensive goals today. I don't believe either of the teams can achieve a decisive victory here, and in a close game I'm much more inclined to predict less goals.